With NBA training camps opening next week, teams are able to carry additional players who may have NBA talent, but they will get cut before the regular season because of roster limits. NBA expansion has been talked about for years, and is a potential way to alleviate this problem. However, it comes with other concerns, such as conference realignment, changes in revenue sharing, and watering down of talent. Do you think the NBA needs expansion, or should the league stay with 30 teams?

Sahil (Throw Away): The NBA needs expansion; there’s just too much talent. I watch a lot of the G League, and I think it’s a great system for young guys to get extra reps when they don’t get minutes in the NBA or for them to showcase their skills to earn an NBA contract. However, to be perfectly honest, many of the guys I see light up the G shouldn’t be in the minor leagues in the first place. They have the talent to be in the NBA, but it’s a numbers game. There just aren’t enough spots for them to edge out guys drafted higher or who have more experience most of the time.

Besides the obvious fact of increasing the talent pool, there are far too many cities deserving of new franchises. Seattle and Vancouver, once homes to the SuperSonics and Grizzlies, respectively, are both great options. Mexico City has seen amazing success with the Mexico City Capitanes in the G League and is a viable international option for an NBA team. Even a city like Nashville, which has been exploding in popularity recently, has a fanbase that would support a basketball team. The point is the fans want more hoops in more places, and there are more than enough players to make it happen without diluting talent.

Ben (Throw Away): It’s time to expand! There’s far too much talent right now for 30 teams. Sure, it might seem a little excessive to expand the league past 30 teams, but I think it’ll work. On this subject, I’d like to get excessive. I want four expansion franchises! The NBA has a major problem right now — too many stars. It’s not a bad problem to have, but they have far more superstar and elite-caliber players than any other professional sports league. 

Legitimately solid basketball players are being cut, sent to the G-League, or are playing overseas. Super teams used to be just the Spurs vs. the Heat in the finals. Now it feels like there are 10+ super teams as good or better than those “super” squads. I don’t think the playoff needs to expand, but four more teams would spread some of the wealth around the league and even out the competition more.

Conor (Throw away): The NBA desperately needs expansion. Too many teams have too many players that they have no intention of using. At this point, it’s a challenge to even pay attention to the second round of the NBA Draft because the chances of those guys even suiting up for their team are extremely low. There have been exceptions in recent memory, such as Nikola Jokić, Draymond Green and Khris Middleton, but by and large, second-round picks do not matter at all. Adding two teams would create 7872 more minutes of playing time per season, which will hopefully add a bit more importance to the draft’s later stages.

Two more teams would also dilute the playoff pool ever so slightly, which is necessary at this point. It feels like just about anyone can make the playoffs under the current format of six playoff teams and four play-in teams in each conference. Adding another team to the mix will make it just a bit harder for anyone else, and the NBA would be crazy to turn down the opportunity to make their league more competitive.

Tess (Stay): As much as I would love to see the Seattle SuperSonics make a comeback into the league, I don’t believe the NBA needs to add any additional teams. The current 30-team format is working and has been for decades now. At the end of the day, it always comes down to the same thing: money. 

While I’m all for young athletes getting more opportunities to demonstrate their talents, I’m not sure adding more teams into the league is the right way to do it. However, my thoughts on the WNBA are the complete opposite. I’m a massive believer in expanding the WNBA because there’s so much talent that goes unnoticed, and there are not enough chances for women to succeed professionally in the United States. It doesn’t feel that way with the NBA. If you’re truly talented and can execute your skills on the big stage, NBA scouts will likely target you because there are enough opportunities for you to show your abilities. This is not the same case when there are only 12 teams in a league.